This is a reply to a comment asking about working in Japan ... Enjoy or Ignore
"Seems like your experiences have been abundant and wonderful, but, were they indeed wonderful?" - Scott
The short answer is, yes it's been wonderful. It's radically different from the places I've lived / been in the world. Japan is an absolutely amazing place to live and work. Aeon, well Aeon is a Japanese company... which at times will drive you absolutely insane. My experience has been overall positive but I've heard crazy stories about passive aggressive, deceptive, cut throat and sometimes just insane or ridiculous. A good place for horror / glory stories is an
eikaiwa journal site. I rarely read it, but my girlfriend checks it out fairly often, it can be informative, sometimes entertaining.
Aeon also has many campaigns aimed at supplementing income during the slow periods and to "help your students" which unfortunately can take a backseat to the money. It's business though, you've got to pay to live right? These campaigns can be difficult especially when you are new and have no idea how anything will help your students and it seems that arbitrarily recommending that they buy something (often very expensive) really seems to undermine your teacher - student relationship. But as you get more experience it's really not a big deal, just a little messed up at first. so be prepared to feel like a trashy used car salesman (no offense aimed at any used car salesman!).
Next, I work in Kanie, which is in the Chubu area Aeon Central Japan. Tokyo is Aeon East Japan. I have heard from trainers that the teaching style is different. So I'm not exactly sure how it works out there. One of the guys who was in my training group has transfered to AEJ so
check his blog maybe he have something to say about it.
My experience in Tokyo is very, very limited, the eikaiwa will have more info. Tokyo was fun when i visited, but I love being in a smaller town near Nagoya, because I'm to a Shinkansen in 10 minutes and I'm in central Japan, Kyoto is 40 min away Osaka less than 2 hours tokyo about 2 hours or so. So central has its perks. Plus the largest area I've ever lived in is a suburb of Milwaukee or of DC, so I'm used to smaller communities close to larger urban areas. Tokyo might drive me crazy, but i doubt it because life can be so convenient. But Tokyo is insane!!
Aeon's benefits are getting worse, not that it matters to new teachers ::
Aeon pays my way home, they won't pay your way home.
My contract is 29.5 teaching hours a week and if my first class isn't until 2 or 3 pm, i don't go in until 145 or 245, you'll have to be in at 12 or one everyday.
My rent is subsidized and I don't pay into the pension system, your rent will still be subsidized, but your rent'll be higher, so will your base salary, but the added pension and hours makes you earn less (or so i believe, it doesn't matter to me since it's not my contract so i didn't really pay too much attention)
And there's something different about the bonus system, but for the real details just check
Aeon's site, which I'm guessing you have already done.
Having said all of that, the students are almost always amazing people. The Japanese are almost always amazing people. The food here is amazing, transportation is almost always amazing. The culture is so crazy sometimes but usually in an amazing way.
Aeon's teaching method is pretty good and after you get into yourself here it gets much easier, especially if you teach adults only (i teach kids and adults) I think I would get bored if only taught adults. what are you planning? A or B or Amity?
Long story getting shorter:
It's a job. Japan is amazing. Japanese is a pain (KANJI), especially when you decide not to renew your contract and the end is in sight, which is why i quit actively learning.
Apply, why not. I think Aeon is better than NOVA again the eikaiwa is full of that.
No idea on teaching in Korea, and I'm tainted by living in the passive Japanese culture.
I will say that Hangul is so much easier to learn to read than kana and kanji.
well thata was a fun sunday morning
tner. the game is fully stylus driven and you hold the ds on it's side with a 3d map on the left screen and a top down view on the touch screen where you move your character. It's not so much big on action, and the story is semi predictable, but its fun nonetheless. And if you ever played Trace Memory, this is by the same developer but the game is much better.
